Challengers regroup, dominate Bonanza

Two minutes into the third quarter, Cascade Christian's starters were summoned to the bench for good. They had earned the rest.

Two minutes into the third quarter, Cascade Christian's starters were summoned to the bench for good. They had earned the rest.

The Challengers dominated the boards and raced out to a 47-13 halftime lead en route to a 79-28 blowout win over Bonanza on Tueday in nonconference boys basketball at Cascade Christian High School.

Seth Knox had six points and eight rebounds and David Sellers added 10 points and seven rebounds as Cascade Christian (7-4) won the battle of the boards, 48-21, in an inspired effort that followed a subpar performance at last week's Salem Academy tournament.

"We came out with a lot of intensity," Cascade Christian coach Brian Morse said. "After the first four minutes of the game we were still tied at 4-all "… then we busted out the last four minutes — we scored 17 points — and that got us going. We started attacking, getting offensive rebounds and putbacks, and that kind of opened up the floodgates."

The Challengers, who also got 12 points from Jake Brown and 10 from Alex Miller, finished with 20 offensive rebounds.

"That was one the things we emphasized, to crash the boards offensively," Morse added.

Bonanza lost for the fourth time in its last five games to fall to 7-8.

ST. MARY'S 53, ROGUE RIVER 33 — Connor Vinyard turned in 17 points, six rebounds and three blocks to lead St. Mary's in Southern Cascade Hybrid action.

Kade Benton chipped in 13 points, five rebounds and two steals and Michael Crennen added 11 points for the Crusaders (5-10, 1-0 SCH), who led 20-13 at halftime and used a 17-8 surge in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.

Andy Valencia had nine points and four steals and Shawn Donahue eight points and six rebounds for Rogue River (5-8, 0-1).

ILLINOIS VALLEY 59, LOST RIVER 46 — At Cave Junction, Illinois Valley's Mack Epple turned in 31 points and 13 rebounds and the Cougars saved their best for last in the nonconference game, outscoring Lost River 20-3 in the final quarter.

GILCHRIST 46, PROSPECT 44 — At Gilchrist, a basket at game's end by Prospect's Scotty Kennedy was disallowed, giving the host a comeback MVL victory.

The controversial play — the Cougars believed it was in time — came after Gilchrist got 3-pointers from Mike McGregor and Dillon Link to erase a four-point deficit in the final moments. The treys were set up by a charging foul and a turnover by Prospect.